This research aims to investigate the various direct and indirect impacts of
organized violence and crime on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
as well as entrepreneurs’ responses to violent acts. A mixed-method design
based on a quantitative content analysis of 204 news stories found in the
international press and a multi-case study covering 10 SMEs operating in
Monterrey, Mexico, is used to explore entrepreneurs’ responses to the direct
and indirect effects of violent acts.
The results highlight the dynamic between
informal and formal institutions in SMEs’ attempts to survive in complex
institutional contexts.
Future studies based on the results of this research
could enhance the literature on SMEs and entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
The results, which illustrate entrepreneurs’ responses to violent acts, enhance
our understanding of the emerging operational and managerial strategies of
SMEs operating in complex institutional contexts.
The findings highlight the
emerging process of social change in Mexican society among members of the
middle class, and various attempts to fight back against organized violence
and crime in a non-violent manner.
SMEs are important in Mexico and Latin
America. However, the understanding of the direct and indirect impacts of
organized crime and violence on SMEs is limited. This research identifies and
analyzes the emerging responses of entrepreneurs to these institutional
constraints.

This paper was composed in the fall of 2007. It was then presented on 17 November 2007 at the Matchpoints Conference at the University of Århus, a conference jointly sponsored by the Irish Embassy to Denmark and the University of Århus. We subsequently presented the paper to an internal IKL session of colleagues involved in educational research (dubbed, the "Educational Irregulars’) and then offered the paper to an internal seminar of the Asian Research Center. Throughout this process, Maribel Blasco has been particularly helpful as a colleague with knowledge and interest in the role, nature, and politics of tertiary education. We learned through this process that our Working Paper is at least four separate research journal pieces – in potential. Thus, we file this as a record of a work in progress and as a follow up to the previously filed Working Paper we now refer to as the "EU-ROPE 1” paper – our first venture into exploring the educational character and implications of the CBS SPRØK undergraduate educational model.

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As the scale and scope private military and security companies (PMSCs) are rapidly expanding internationally, the question of their regulation is evermore pressing. Although credible exact figures on the activities of the companies are not available, there is ample indication that the companies play a central role around the world. In Iraq, a Department of Defense survey estimates that there are some 180.000 contractors compared to 160.000 U.S. troops (Singer, 2007: 2). In Nigeria some 1000 registered security companies constitute the second economic sector in the economy after oil (Abrahamsen and Williams, 2006a). Moreover, the scope of PMSC activity is steadily expanding. The trend to privatize and outsource a growing range of activities places PMSCs in charge of an ever growing range of formerly military or policing tasks. The predictable consequence is that PMSCs are increasingly visible and controversial. Incidences such as that in the Nisour square Baghdad where Blackwater contractors were involved in an incident leaving 17 dead civilians on 16th of September 2007 focus attention around the regulatory context of PMSC work. This presentation discusses one aspect of that regulatory context, namely the existing international regulation.

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This paper looks at creative industry events – in particular fairs and festivals –
and at how they provide a venue for the (re)enactment of institutional
arrangements in a particular industry field, as well as for the negotiation and
affirmation of different values that underpin them. Tracing the study of such
field configuring events back to studies in economic anthropology and
sociology, the authors of the paper argue that it is the notion of values that
underpins fairs, festivals, awards, auctions and similar events. Going beyond
the economist’s notion of ‘Value’ in the singular, the paper posits that, in order
to understand the relationship between culture and economy, we need to
consider a plurality of material/technical, social, situational, appreciative and
functional values when examining how economic Value is derived from
creative products. It is these values that are continuously being (re)negotiated
and transacted by those participating in creative industry fairs and festivals.

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Tourism policy matters in cultural tourism. The starting point of this paper is the observation that
many tourism policy studies draw three inter-related conclusions. One, tourism policy must be
inclusive and require the support of different stakeholders (Baker 2009; Bernhard Jørgensen and
Munar 2009). Two, a balanced approach to tourism policy is needed to harness the benefits of
tourism while mitigating negative effects (Budeanu 2009; Chang 1997; Jenkins 1997; Leheny 1995,
Newby 1994; Teo and Yeoh, 1997). Three, tourism policies should accentuate and maintain the
cultural uniqueness and authenticity of the destination (Morgan et al. 2011). It seems that many
tourism authorities are ignorant of local interests, unaware of the touristification of local cultures
and uninterested in promoting local cultures. But local cultures and communities are what that
constitute cultural tourism.